Thunderbird's Atomic Cartoons Partners with Iconic Brand tokidoki to Produce Animated Mermicornos Series
VANCOUVER, Feb. 4, 2019 /CNW/ - Thunderbird Entertainment Group Inc. (TSXV:TBRD) ("Thunderbird" or the "Company"), is pleased to announce its kids division, Atomic Cartoons, is partnering with tokidoki, the pop-culture brand that means "sometimes" in Japanese, to develop an original animated series based on tokidoki's Mermicorno character family. The series will be produced in collaboration with tokidoki's visionary co-founder and Chief Creative Officer, Simone Legno (CCO), and co-founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Pooneh Mohajer.
Introduced as part of tokidoki's Unicorno Series 4 at San Diego Comic-Con 2015, the highly successful Mermicorno family now includes three series of Mermicorno collectible figures. The success of these magical characters has rapidly grown, with Mermicorno-themed plush toys, bags, apparel and novelty items being available globally, in more than 20, 000 stores.
The new partnership with Atomic Cartoons follows other collaborations between tokidoki and global brands such as Marvel, Hello Kitty, and Street Fighter. Legno and Mohajer will serve as executive producers of the animated series, along with Thunderbird's CEO Jennifer Twiner McCarron and Matthew Berkowitz, who is vice president of Originals, Atomic Cartoons. Legno created the series, which Shea Fontana (DC Super Hero Girls, Polly Pocket) is writing and developing. Fontana is also set to executive produce and serve as showrunner for the comedy-adventure series.
"As an artist and a designer, it is a dream come true that I am working with the creative and passionate Atomic team," says Legno, whose fascination with Japan and world cultures led to the creation of tokidoki.it, his online portfolio, in 2001.
In 2003, Mohajer was introduced to Legno's art online and approached him to start the tokidoki brand. Mohajer adds, "We have always known the tokidoki universe was destined to come to life via animation and are particularly proud that our first foray is developing the Mermicornos series in partnership with this exceptionally talented team."
Based on an original concept by Legno, the comedy-adventure series will follow a team of Mermicornos as they set out to stop an evil force determined to take over their world. Much like tokidoki itself, the animated series will be centered on exploration, discovery and self-belief. It will be up to these fearless Mermicornos to overcome the odds - and their differences - to bring peace to all of the sea.
"tokidoki has a history of creating their own incredibly unique and successful brands like Mermicornos, as well as establishing significant partnerships with some of the world's most recognizable names across multiple industries, including Blizzard Entertainment's Overwatch, MLB, and LeSportsac," says Berkowitz. "We could not be more thrilled to partner with tokidoki and are honoured that they have trusted us to bring their illustrious Mermicornos to life as an animated series."
This new project represents another high-profile partnership for Thunderbird's kids division. Atomic is currently working with Max Brallier to produce an animated series for Netflix, based on Brallier's New York Times Best Selling Book series The Last Kids on Earth. Atomic also recently announced a partnership with Drew Barrymore and Savannah Guthrie to develop an animated series based on Guthrie's New York Times Best Selling Book series Princesses Wear Pants.
About Thunderbird Entertainment Group Inc.
Thunderbird Entertainment Group is a Vancouver-based global multiplatform entertainment company with offices in Vancouver, Los Angeles, Toronto, Ottawa and London. Thunderbird creates award-winning scripted, unscripted and animated programming for the world's leading digital platforms, as well as Canadian and International broadcasters. Thunderbird's vision is to produce high quality, socially responsible content that makes the world a better place. The Company develops, produces and distributes animated, factual and scripted content through its various divisions, including Atomic Cartoons, Great Pacific Television, Thunderbird Productions and Thunderbird Releasing Limited.
About Atomic Cartoons, Thunderbird's Kids Division
Atomic Cartoons is the Kids Division of Thunderbird Entertainment Group. Recognized internationally as one of the leading animation studios in North America, Atomic employs 500+ artists in Vancouver and Ottawa locations. Since its founding more than 20 years ago, Atomic has worked with partners such as Marvel Animation, Netflix, Disney, Cartoon Network, Warner Bros., Lego, Mattel, Spin Master and Nelvana to name a few. Atomic's productions include the Emmy-award winning Beat Bugs, the upcoming Netflix series The Last Kids on Earth, the upcoming Disney show 101 Dalmatian Street, Counterfeit Cat, Minecraft Mini Series, Marvel's Avengers Assemble, Rocket Monkeys, Max & Ruby and Transformers: Rescue Bots. For more information: http://atomiccartoons.com/.
About tokidoki
tokidoki, which translates to "sometimes" in Japanese, is an internationally recognized and iconic lifestyle brand based on the vision of Italian artist Simone Legno and his partners, serial entrepreneurs Pooneh Mohajer and Ivan Arnold. Since debuting in 2005, tokidoki has amassed a cult-like following for its larger-than-life characters and emerged as a sought-after global lifestyle brand. tokidoki offers an extensive range of products which include apparel, handbags, cosmetics, accessories, toys and more. Simone Legno, tokidoki's Chief Creative Officer, was born in Rome, Italy and from a very young age developed a deep love of Japan and a fascination with world cultures. Combining Legno's unique talent and creativity with Mohajer's business acumen, tokidoki has grown exponentially. As an innovative company, tokidoki is known not only for its eye-popping aesthetic and criminally cute characters but also its megawatt partnerships.
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Website: www.thunderbird.tv
Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information
This news release includes certain "forward-looking statements" under applicable Canadian securities legislation that are not historical facts. Forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties, and other factors that could cause actual results, performance, prospects, and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements in this news release include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to the Company's objectives, goals or future plans and the business and operations of the Company, and the likelihood of completion of upcoming releases. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based on a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause actual results and future events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, but are not limited to: general business, economic and social uncertainties; litigation, legislative, environmental and other judicial, regulatory, political and competitive developments; those additional risks set out in the Company's Filing Statement and other public documents filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com; and other matters discussed in this news release. Although the Company believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing the forward-looking statements are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on these statements, which only apply as of the date of this news release, and no assurance can be given that such events will occur in the disclosed time frames or at all. Except where required by law, the Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.
SOURCE Thunderbird Entertainment Group Inc.
Investor Relations Contacts: Lucas Cahill and Freddie Leigh, Phone: + 1 604.683.3555, Email: [email protected]; Media Relations Contact: Julia Smith, Finch Media, Phone: +1 604.803.0897, Email: [email protected]
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